BitterBierce
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Early war, Union, Mc'Dowell's AoV.

Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:42 am

Early war, Union of course, and your first large-scale, but barely cohesive army is at your disposal three turns in. It's broken up into "divisions" (using the term loosely). Once it's unlocked, what do you guys do with it? Do you wait for it to gain full cohesiveness, or move with it immediately in the hopes of gaining Manassas Junction? Do you combine it and take the higher penalty, or leave them separate, and maybe add generals from your pool in the hopes of lowering the penalty somewhat? Or do you scatter those generals in other areas where you plan on forging other armies (out west, for instance)? Simply looking for any input gained from the communities individual experiences here. As usual, any input is greatly appreciated!

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FENRIS
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Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:25 am

Hello !

concerning the command penalty, it's the same problem for your opponent. In the first months it's "normal". The most important thing it's to defend the strategic points and the power of your army, the enemy will also have a 25 or 35% penalty command in the first battles.
I use to send some leaders in the west to organize the future force the Union have enough leaders for it.

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gchristie
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Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:44 pm

Welcome to the forum.

I try to grab Manassas Junction as soon as possible with whatever active forces I have.

If my opponent has moved to defend or recapture Manassas Junction in force, I tend to do the following:

Try to blow the depot in Manassas if my forces managed to capture it but can't hold it.
Build a depot in Alexandria as your underforce brigades will receive replacements faster in a depot. Getting a hospital unit to them early helps recover cohesion faster, too so I order one early.
Order up the replacements your forces need.
Send 3 or 4 generals out west to Cincinnati and Cairo as these are my staging points for those armies
Send a general and some reinforcements to both Ft. Pickens and Ft. Monroe
Possibly send a division to Harper's Ferry or react to a raid.

If my opponent does not reinforce Manassas Junction then pile the AoP in and hope for the best. if McDowell isn't active one of the two star generals probably will be and you can't have worse than a 35% penalty so leave McDowell behind sitting in his tent eating watermelon and go for it, I say.

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FENRIS
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Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:21 pm

gchristie wrote:Welcome to the forum.

I try to grab Manassas Junction as soon as possible with whatever active forces I have.

If my opponent has moved to defend or recapture Manassas Junction in force, I tend to do the following:

Try to blow the depot in Manassas if my forces managed to capture it but can't hold it.
Build a depot in Alexandria as your underforce brigades will receive replacements faster in a depot. Getting a hospital unit to them early helps recover cohesion faster, too so I order one early.
Order up the replacements your forces need.
Send 3 or 4 generals out west to Cincinnati and Cairo as these are my staging points for those armies
Send a general and some reinforcements to both Ft. Pickens and Ft. Monroe
Possibly send a division to Harper's Ferry or react to a raid.

If my opponent does not reinforce Manassas Junction then pile the AoP in and hope for the best. if McDowell isn't active one of the two star generals probably will be and you can't have worse than a 35% penalty so leave McDowell behind sitting in his tent eating watermelon and go for it, I say.


Exact !
1. depot in Alexandria
2. leaders in Saint-Louis, and take Jefferson city, Rolla, Springfield as soon as possible (2 turns)
3. reinforce fort Pickens and fort Monroe (don't forget it !)
4. reinforce Pittsburg also !

:wavey:
[color="#FF8C00"][/color]Eylau 1807

"Rendez-vous, général, votre témérité vous a emporté trop loin ; vous êtes dans nos dernières lignes." (un russe)

" Regardez un peu ces figures-là si elles veulent se rendre !" (Lepic)[color="#FF8C00"][/color][I]
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Longshanks
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Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:06 pm

I assume you are playing against Athena (the AI), so the advice you've been given is reasonable. You can be more aggressive against Athena than against most human players of equal experience, but beware! CSA Athena has a habit of attacking Pittsburgh and New York with large forces that reply on capturing your depots for their supply! When this occurs, don't panic ... stop your offensives, send troops to "corral" hers, and starve them out during the harsh winters of the North.

As the Union, capturing Manassas is important to prevent a major NM penalty. Later you will also have to move large forces to within 2 regions of Richmond. That's not so tough as trying to take Manassas after the CSA has deposited two corps and Longstreet in it.

Keep your eye on Jackson, as he's the one that usually leads the deep-incursions. Guard the river that runs north from WV to Pittsburgh, as it's a common path he takes.
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BitterBierce
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Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:32 am

Your advice, as always, has proved invaluable. Up to this point I've always felt that I was missing something; some strategy that would minimize the penalties. I've only had the game for about a month, so up to this point my save-files are all "dry runs", trying to get a feel for a good early strategy. Looking at all of your advice, I think I 've been doing something fairly similar.

1. I move my largest army into Manassas as soon as unlocked. Sooner the better I suppose, as I've read here in the forums that once the CSA has it, they're very costly to dislodge.
2. I disperse many of my general's pool out west. Usually to Cairo and Lexington, as well as a couple to St. Louis awaiting the arrival of Lyon. (I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, and I've come to find that there is some success to be had in this game from doing so). Once I've formed an army in MO, it tends to slice right through like a knife through butter, with little resistance. (Never had a reenactment of Wilson's Creek).
3. I also send a couple of gens. to Harpers Ferry and to one of the towns further down the track on the border of WV and Pennsylvania in an effort to sew it up a bit with smaller armies.

Thanks again guys!

aguilucho
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Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:55 am

How do you reinfoprec Fort pIckents & Monroe? If your ships are "blocked" you cannot send anything... and for the generals.. do we have to use the "magic button to make a "time space trip"?
For order new units, there is one that it has not state, it says "US" but not any fixed state.. where will appear the unit built?
Of course, this is in the Blue side.

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Jim-NC
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Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:39 am

The US units (no state) can be built almost anywhere. In practice, they are usually built in Washington for the US, and Richmond for the CSA (but not always).

As to the other 2 items, I am not sure I understand your questions, but here are answers to what I think you are asking.

1. As the union, you can send troops to both forts. You will need to have the troops on a ship, and sail the ship into the fort (you can send your men via riverine transport, but that can be a death trap). If the fort is showing blockaded, you will have to have your own ships to fight your way past the blockading force (you could try to sail in on defensive mode and hope the enemy fleet is also in defensive mode, which allows free travel).

2. Generals can move anywhere on the map. If you use rail movement, it takes 1 day per region (friendly regions only). Or you can load them on a ship and sail them to a place. If you want a general to go from Washington DC to San Francisco in 1 turn for example, you need to use the strategic redeployment (magic buton), as it instantly moves the general. If you need a general in a location in a hurry, use the button, or you can wait for the general to move using normal means.
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aguilucho
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Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:29 pm

Thanks for your answer.
Regarding the "magic buton", we can only us it only once per turn, is taht right? You cann not send 2 Generals in the same turn far away using this buton. right?
Regarding the forts, I understand your answer, but at the beginning of hte campaing you don't have nor the men nor the ships ready to send them.. and by the timùe you can doit surely they have been takent bu the south.. that's my feeling...

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FENRIS
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Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:42 pm

aguilucho wrote:Thanks for your answer.
Regarding the "magic buton", we can only us it only once per turn, is taht right? You cann not send 2 Generals in the same turn far away using this buton. right?
Regarding the forts, I understand your answer, but at the beginning of hte campaing you don't have nor the men nor the ships ready to send them.. and by the timùe you can doit surely they have been takent bu the south.. that's my feeling...


hola Aguilucho ! "teletransport" maximum 3 generales per turn with the option tercera casilla.

:wavey:
[color="#FF8C00"][/color]Eylau 1807

"Rendez-vous, général, votre témérité vous a emporté trop loin ; vous êtes dans nos dernières lignes." (un russe)

" Regardez un peu ces figures-là si elles veulent se rendre !" (Lepic)[color="#FF8C00"][/color][I]
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Wraith
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Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:45 pm

Also, be advised that teleporting a LG or better to take over an army will remove the malus for teleportation...

exar83
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Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:52 pm

Regarding the forts, I understand your answer, but at the beginning of hte campaing you don't have nor the men nor the ships ready to send them.. and by the timùe you can doit surely they have been takent bu the south.. that's my feeling...


Well you can always pull some ships out of you Shipping Lanes or Blockade boxes and load your troops on those or build some transports since they don't take long to build. You really only need a full division each to defend Ft. Pickens and Ft. Monroe especially if you can get them entrenched. If the South devotes enough resources to dislodge your forces it means he will have gaps in his lines and weaknesses in his forces somewhere.

If you see him devoting 2 or 3 full divisions just to take Ft. Pickens then its time for you to probe his lines and find the weakness. Really for me losing Ft. Pickens isn't the end of the world and if losing it draws out his forces and makes him batter himself against Ft. Pickens defenses then it's usually worth it if I can strike a weak point. I don't like losing Ft. Monroe but it's all about the give and take I guess.

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Ace
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Sun Aug 26, 2012 9:24 am

You dont have to be too worried about those forts in the first few turns. Before the unlocking of main eastern armies, CSA has no means to dislodge you from those places, and after that you do not need entire division to defend it. Forts are a bitch to assault. 2 entrenched brigades will hold 2 divisions, and if he commits more than 2 divisions, you can safely march to Richmond.

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Cromagnonman
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Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:02 pm

My current campaign I was able to take Fredburg, blow its depot, and take Manassass before the main armies unlocked; the Washington Bde & US Marines under an active 2-star made a potent raiding force.
I usually find McDowell's army to be the easy part. Patterson's force is really weak, and you have to work to get artillery there. Thus that's where I focus my early-war Eastern reinforcements.
I do like to get at least some militia to Forts Monroe and Pickens early; your transports in New England generally unlock in plenty of time to get troops there before there's any real risk.
A key strategy is to get a blockading force up the James early, so you can knock down Richmond's productivity.
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Irish_Brigade
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:37 pm

I think its working in my favor so far, and I do not know how or if it would work against Athena. But in a PBEM game I am working on right now. I slipped an army behind the CSA forces in the Shenandoah Valley and burned it to the ground while the army was fighting me for Harpers Ferry. So far this seems to have prevented the CSA from slipping up into Pennsylvania. Also, early in the war it caused the army of the Shenandoah to retreat to Richmond as they had no supplies left to sustain themselves. Granted this has caused massive fights for Harpers Ferry but it has kept the CSA on the Virgina side of the river.

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DrPostman
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:12 pm

It's amazing how Athena as the South is so single minded about taking Ft Pickens, even after losing New Orleans and
the forts that protect it. It usually isn't until Mobile falls that the troops besieging Pickens give up on it.
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